Virtual views allow viewers of live or recorded events, such as sporting events, to experience the events from additional viewpoints beyond those from which footage is directly recorded. Virtual views may be computed based on one or more actual views. However, existing techniques for computing virtual views suffer from shortcomings.
One prior technique for generating a virtual view involves the creation of a planar billboard. A planar billboard is a planar surface approximating the location and orientation of a subject, onto which an image of the subject, captured by a physical camera, is projected. A virtual view may then be generated by projecting the planar billboard image on the image plane of a virtual camera, hypothetically positioned to provide the desired view. However, an image projected onto a planar billboard may exhibit distortions when viewed from an angle that is significantly removed from the angle where the image was taken by the physical camera.
Another technique for generating a virtual view involves the creation of a full 3D scene model. If such a model is available, then generating a virtual view simply requires the application of known techniques to project the 3D model into the appropriate image plane of a virtual camera positioned at a desired vantage point. However, the generation of a full 3D model may require more input data than is available, and may also require the application of more computing resources than may be dedicated to the generation of virtual views. The creation of a full 3D scene model may therefore be impractical for common use. It should be noted that, throughout this disclosure, the terms “three-dimensional” and “3D” will be used interchangeably, as will the terms “two-dimensional” and “2D” and the terms “one-dimensional” and “1D”.